is my simple win. >> we do have breaking news. sonia sotomayor confirmed by the senate judiciary committee just seconds ago. no surprise but still, it is history in the making. good afternoon, i'm alison starling. today's confirmation puts turnout on the path to become an associate justice and the first hispanic on the supreme court. courtney robinson has been following the proceedings. is this a hint of maybe what she will face in the full senate? >> absolutely. lawmakers -- 13-6. certainly the gravity of the vote was not lost. a likely indicator of wat she will face among the full senate.

>> i look forward to a bipartisan vote. >> but this vote was very much partisan. >> i find no example of infidelity to the law. >> democrats cited her 17-year record on the federal bench and her personal story and republicans did the same, saying sotomayor would revert to judicial activism and allow bias to given the way. >> it is important to remember that as a judge, i don't make a lot. >> i am not convinced judge sotomayor has the ability to where the distal blindfold and avoid having personal biases and provinces dictate. >> senator lindsey graham was the loan committee republicans to vote for president obama's first pick to the high court, saying he is confident in her ability. >> i would not have chosen her but i understand why it president obama did. >> as sotomayor goes before the full senate next week for

confirmation, today's vote will be an indicator of the divide will likely see, adding to the pressure on lawmakers in conservative leaning states. >> this will be on the scorard. gun lobby has come out in opposition to judge sotomayor. >> not just the gun lobby. the anti-abortion group americans united for life said it will also include the confirmation vote on their annual rating. it is expected the full senate will take of the vote next week. they hope it is not delayed, as today's was, by republicans, by the august recess. abc seven is. >> thank you very much. some new developments in the virginia tech shootings. relatives are asking the state to reopen its investigation of the april 2007 attack. the group includes the parents of many of the 32 people killed by the student gunman. the request follows last week's disclosure that the former

director of the university's counseling center found missing mental health records inside his home. a fire destroyed the oxon hill hall -- it's 90 minutes to bring under control. investigators are investigating the cause of origin and estimate the loss of $1 million. no injuries were reported. texting by driving dramatically raises the risk of a crash. virginia tech researchers found drivers take their eyes off the road for five seconds while they are texting. if you are going 55 miles an hour, that is enough to travel the length of a football field and much longer than while talking with listening. it raises the collision risk by 23 times for top -- truck

drivers and six times for cars and smaller trucks. hopeful signs today the real estate market could be bouncing back. not only are more people buying but spiraling home prices seem to be slowing. we talked to some of those people whose homes street -- home sweet home ia steering the turnaround. >> after serving in the military for 25 years, bethany bought her first home a few months ago in this new woodbridge neighborhood. >> it was a good move, exactly the right time. >> it seems like it was the right time for many, partly because of the price tag. >> the price has come down to the point where we could afford to buy. omea new report shows h prices will on the rise in may, indicating prices were finally stabilizing. however, prices are still 17% lower than they were may of last year. potential homebuyers as seeing prices at levels not seen since mid 2003. this new report comes on the heels of news that home sales

are up 11% in june, that is far more than analysts expected. >> the houses are sold, and the sales agents said it is really starting to get busier. >> it could signal the path out of recession. >> this has been a drag on the u.s. economy for almost four years and the fact is moving into positive territory, that is a significant shift in momentum. >> residence in this new community like bethany believe it could be a sign the market is bottoming out. >> i think we are at the bottom. i think we've got a long way to go and hopefully it will not be as bad as it was 50 years ago. >> i hope we bottomed out because if we ever want to sell our house we hope it is worth more than we paid. them abc's seven is. >> you can see the sun shining. it hits you as soon as you step outside. thick, hot, muggy air.

it is july. how long as a strand going to last? >> how many fingers and toes? the next seven days at least we will see the heat, so we will have to get more accustomed to it. david the bodies will feel the heat and expected on a day-to- day basis. n nntot come until tomorrow. e you can look at the weather camera from up and frederick, watch the sun come up. clouds parting, blue iesks, . ds high blue skies are kind of the st temperatures responding temperatures responding -- 88 in woodbridge from 86 in falls church. it loan 90's, partly to mostly sunny and a stray thunderstorm or two. fu forecast and a few minutes. we expect michael jackson was a final autopsy results to be released sometime this week but the associated press and abc news are reporting that jackson's personal doctor

niadmi stered a powerful drug cartel, including fox a compton, demerol , propofol -- for two years they say he gave propofol when jackson went to sleep and stop the drift winning one to wake up. they say he injected the drug midnight on the day jackson died. investigators think that is what stopped jackson's heart. >> it seems like the net is closing in on dr. mary. if he is to be arrested it may actually happen sooner than later. >> murray says he found jackson with a weak pulse and started cpr. 30 minutes passed before anybody called 911. tmzad reports paramedics' sought den soadja on arrival with ibm in his arm and three oxygen tanks nearby. are just getting word and a eighth suspect is at large in a home grown teraflop.

the fbi already had seven men and test -- custody in north carolina. the troubling new details from a federal indictment that was unsealed today. >> cats will county, n.c., seems like an unlikely training ground for terrorist. fbi swat teams raided the wellsprings home, accusing one and six others for attacks overseas. >> not end caswell county, you don't see anything out here but tobacco and cowls. terrorist? a little mud. >> daniel boy is accused of recruiting his salons axons and other men mostly americans. according to the indictment went to pakistan and afghanistan and received a military-style training a terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad and it also claims he thought the sovietin afghanistan. >> homegrown tourism i think all of weight -- always kept the bure of that night because you

just don't know about the sometimes until about tapppan. unless you have that one wiretap or that one piece of information, these people can function below the radar for months. >> just last week a 26-year-old long island -- long island man accused of joining al qaeda and attacking american that can stand. that the n.c. some say they knew the family was muslim but the not suspect daniel being anything but dedicated family man. >> they were playing with neighborhood kids. >> ironically the county is home to two top training facilities for u.s. special forces and anti-terrorist teams. abc news, washington. >> we are learning new details about the alexandria police chief arrest for drunk driving. "the washington post was " discovered chief david baker failed four field sobriety test, blood out of level was four times the legal limit. baker said he had two beers 20

minutes before the accident in arlington the capitol heights man will spend 20 years in prison for a brutal church beating. on monday prince george's county prosecutors say shannon washington admitted to attacking 69-year-old wayne williams outside the holy redeemer church on christmas eve. williams lost as white i needed facial reconstruction. -- williams lost his right eye and will need reconstruction. >> i will try to forgive him spiritually but i sincerely don't want him to able to do it to anybody, you or me, or anybody ever again. >> shannon washington was sentenced to 28 years. all but 20 suspended after pleading guilty to attempted murder, assault, and robbery. montgomery county officials are looking at whether fl play was involved in the death of a man found in a burning minivan. police identified the man as a 45-year-old from tacoma park.

police found the burning than 1 bradley boulevard in bethesda and discovered his body after putting out flames. and memorial servic will be held next week for the four victims of last week's helicopter crashed in western maryland. the helicopter hit a power line and crashed on interstate 70. three advanced helicopter concept employees and a friend will be remembered at this service. it will be wednesday at the frederick municipal airport. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. still to come, but told obesity is taking on our bottom line, especially when it comes to children and our health care costs. putting the squeeze on water waste in texas during a drastic drop. well here at home and it looks likely would get more rain. how severe can get? the full forecast is coming upip

written says it will temporarily withdraw forces from iraq to kuwait -- britain says it will temporarily withdraw forces after the parliament failed to allow british troops to stay through the end of this month and robert gates met with prime mastin nouri al-maliki and top u.s. military commander today in baghdad. he also made a surprise trip to talil to visit troops there. is really a new of his officials are working to resolve a public dispute over jewish settlements in the west bank. prime minister netanyahu and peace envoy george mitchell -- george mitchell met to discuss the issue. the u.s.aeto freeze settlement construction to jump- start arab-israeli peace talks. >> that is the only way

everybody in the region will be able to realize security, justice, and prosperity for all. >> the israeli government says high birth rates in some communities are making expansion necessary. 900 new apartments are planned for the settlement outside of jerusalem next year. it is day two of economic talks between the u.s. and ina and treasury secretary timothy geithner says the two nations are committed to build a more stable global economy. yet today the obama administration sought to assure china the u.s. will deal with the soaring budget deficit. china uses its massive trade surpluses with the u.s. to bolster its economy. a bipartisan group of the senate finance committee is working on a compromise health care plan but it does not include the president's push for a government-backed insuran option. president obama will continue his push for universal health

care and aarp town hall meeting today. nearly 10% of all health care dollars in the u.s. are spent treating obesity. according to the centers for disease control and prevention, medical costs for obesity- related illnesses have soared as high as $147 billion just last year and officials say the health-care system is suffering because of it. >> if you go with the flow in america you and of overweight or obese. it is not a change in the genes but a change in environment. >> the only way to have real savings in health expenditures in the future is to reduce the prevalence of review -- obesity and related health issues. >> one out of four people in the u.s. are obese, that is up from one out of five just 10 years ago. montgomery county employees could face furloughs and maybe even layoffs. , executive ike leggett said

yesterday the move might be necessary to lessen a projected $370 million budget gap in fiscal 2011. so far the county avoided unpaid leave but it did have to cut 400 jobs this fiscal year. texas is experiencing the worst drought in half a century. to combat the drought officials are trying everything, including placing restrictions on wasting water. off-duty police officers and water system of pulleys are even patrolling neighborhoods -- employees are even patrolling neighborhoods at night. there is an anomalous -- anonymous tip line and neighbors are not offered snitching. >> that sprinkler has been running all day for four days. my grass is dead out a friend because i'm conserving water and they are wasting it. just aggravates the living heck out of me. >> san antonio, september 2007 until june of 2009, the all-time driest 22-month period, total

precipitation of under 24 inches while normal rainfall for that period is about 60 inches. you can see why did you don't want to tell neighbors but at the same time it and see why it bothers her. >> i have a bucket -- i would have a bucket under their sprinkler and taking the water to my lawn. >> we have had our shares of storms here and there, but looks like more to come. >> today less of a chance and to mark a bigger chance. every day is at how big. j t how big. onet us show y sus you what we are talking about. the hd camera from the roof, looking fairly overcast, a mlittledyud adynd hazy. a blue skies have been prevailing with a fewcl ouds here and there. you see iclt coming to reagan national theboigw saard into the airport right now and looks pretty nice but looks can be deceiving because there is a bit of humidity and you can feel it when you step out the door. 85 in bethesda, ashburn, 87, 89

in waldorf and it will be a sticky afternoon. temperatures could push into the night deposit, and this would be our ninth -- tapppan in the temperatures could push into the 90's, and this could be the ninth one so far. this storm is moving north and east and this could be approaching us, area of low pressure tomorrow which could bring widespread thunderstorms. what that tomorrow. more clouds and the chance for storms. today it is the isolated storms that could pop up. let me show you the pollen levels, we were and low-level -- grass, trees, weeds, mold is the moderate category and if we get me -- rand i guess the grass could take off. 84 in frederick, mainly in the low to mid 80's but it looks like these temperatures surged to near 90 before end of afternoon so we will see a pretty stifling afternoon.

the big picture, what we are talking about. in the west, a fair amount of sunshine -- east, a fair amount of sunshine. the next system from the west things and closer. we will watch for the thunderstorms to develop more widespread for the day tomorrow. this afternoon, partly to mostly sunny, hot and every monday from a low 90's. 60's to the mid 70's tonight. tomorrow the clouds -- less sunshine, temperatures held back a bit but what the dynamics, together we could see strong to a severe thunderstorms this afternoon in the match. and then thursday, friday, saturday commit isolated chance and maybe sunday a chance. hot and humid. each and every day will be partly sunny give your steamy forecast. more news and weather on thehere

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>> president obama, harvard professor henry louis gates and sgt -- police sgt crowley will meet thursday. meanwhile authorities in cambridge, mass., released the 911 tape that led to the arrest and why the situation escalated.

the caller, who was walking by on a lunch break, appeared confused by what she saw but as you heard, she did not bring up race. the incident led to arres of professor gates for disorderly conduct and the charge was later dropped. and this is your movies on demand screen.

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program his remote? it's like you've been watching him all day. have you been watching me all day? no. (announcer) want the ultimate upgrade for your home? switch to verizon fios. unlike cable, fios brings 100% fiber optics straight to your home for razor-sharp tv, america's top rated internet, and crystal-clear phone service, just... it's like 3 services for the price of 2. just sign up today. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v and, at no extra cost, we'll set up your wireless home network, remote and walk you through the features. with fios, finding movies is a snap. check traffic, weather and more on screen. even stream music and photos from your computer to your tv. it's just... our best price of the summer. don't wait. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v and we've got a chance for storms today but even better chance tomorrow. >> the chance increases

tomorrow. today is a slight chance and tamara more widespread. all about chance. take a chance. play the lottery. this afternoon that thunderstorms will be few and far between, hot and steamy. tomorrow maybe a few degrees less hot because of tra clout and more widespread shower chances and then back to isolate it. looks like a broker with a broken record monday, without a storm, that is wishful thinking. >> thank you for joining us. see you back here in the morning for good morning washington at 5:00 a.m.

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